HAVE YOUR BEST YEAR EVER tele class, 12/14/16

Have you dreamed of your life-as you hope it to be? Perhaps you want to try something new, or head in a different direction?

Sometimes, our lives are fine just the way they are, thank you very much!
And sometimes, we would like to just tweak a few things ever so slightly.
That can be the 'tipping point'-that spot that takes us just that little bit further that makes the big difference.
I think that spot is where we can breathe easier.
Relax, too.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~So, whether you want to make some small changes, or great big ones, if you will  join me on Wednesday, December 14th, at 7 pm PST, you can listen in to my presentation of 

HAVE YOUR BEST YEAR EVER!!!

This is a teleclass, which means you don't have to dress up, you just have to CALL IN!

We will spend ONE HOUR together, on the phone in a  comfortable, safe environment.

You need: Pen and paper

You call: 712-432-1699 (356291#)

(long distance charges may apply)

From 7pm-8pm (PST), I'll cover some quick, easy ways to tweak key areas of life that may help you to get a jump-start on 2017.

This is one of the best classes I've ever presented, always with consistent, great results.

Can you bring friends and family?

ABSOLUTELY!

AND: IT'S F*R*E*E*!!!

So join us this Wednesday, December 14th

*Please let me know at:

sandycoaches@comcast.net

(I'll send you an email reminder)

HERE'S TO YOUR SUCCESS!!!

Sandy Guderyon

Certified Life Coach

Sandy Guderyon is a certified life coach as well as a trained laughter leader and Law of Attraction Instructor, who lives in northern California. Sandy specializes in lifestyle design with clients from many walks of life. She also offers expertise with small business development.

If you wish to experience a complimentary conversation with Sandy, please contact:

sandycoaches@comcast.net

Pretty Eats

Pretty Eats

How do you make food look pretty?
My mother made the most delicious food and each item on the plate was attractive. Her prime rib done on a Farberware grill in the kitchen was wondrous: it smelled divine and the drippings were used in her famous gravy, which was like velvet.I don't recall garnishes, like parsley, or the garden Kale used so often these days.
Salads were crisp and the bowl was chilled-it was so good. Her go-to salad dressing was Good Seasons, in the envelope-Italian.
My Dad did not care for salads, but there they were and I loved them.
When I look back on my father's ribs on the grill and the beautiful mahogany finish on them, I think that garnishes don't have to be there-the food speaks for itself, doesn't it? He marinated the ribs in Good Seasons Italian dressing and garlic.

Candles are the ultimate garnish!

Our daughter, Sharon

Dinner on a warm day: salad, roasted squash, apples, cheese, and good ol' Wisconsin summer sausage (delivered to us with love by our Wisconsin cousins)-garnished with wine! 

Working in restaurants when I was a young bride, taught me all about ...PARSLEY!That was the only garnish I saw, except for cherries on sundaes.

I used parsley on everything in those days.

It was everywhere and I thought it made food so elegant. I never ate it-I just looked at it.

Recently, on a trip to Sonoma, CA.we lavished  ourselves with two meals at LaSalette.

LaSalette is named for Chef Manuel Acevedo's mother, Salette.

Dinner at Lasalette, Sonoma, CA.

Bacalhau-cod and potatoes, garnished with quail eggs and a bit of parsley.

My husband loved the pork rolls with stuffing and cheese potato croquette.Can you see the garnish?

LaSalette is perfection every time, serving traditional Portuguese cuisine with a modern twist.

So, whether you love simple cuisine, or enjoy a diversified menu of the many cultures  around the world, the food and the people you cook for and share your food (and your parsley) with are the thing! As Jacques Pepin says, 

"HAPPY COOKING!"

Happy Birthday, Julia!

Today is the birthday of Julia Child. She would have been 104. If I was invited to a party for her, I would wear some pearls and bake her a cake with a frosting made of lots of butter! I wish I could have met her personally.
And yet, I felt as though I knew her, because she and I were 'in the kitchen' together.

Julia Child was born August 15th, 1912 in Pasadena, CA.
When World War II broke out, she joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), hoping to be a spy.

But, she ended up a file clerk, slept on cots and wore an army uniform.
She met her future husband, Paul Child in Ceylon (Sri Lanka),who loved food and introduced her to cooking.

When they were sent to France, Julia enrolled at the Cordon Bleu cooking school.
Later, with friends Simone and Louisette, the three formed their own cooking school.

When they returned to the states, they settled in Cambridge, MA.
It was then that the  French Chef tv show was born.

.....and that is about the time when Julia and I 'met'.
I was a young bride, living in a rented farmhouse on the outskirts of Waukesha, WI. We had a little tiny, turquoise tv and when I found her show, I was glued to that set...with a notebook!
I wrote down what she said and cooked that day, then went to the grocery store and made it that night!
That's really how I learned more and more about cooking.

At first, I had just a small, paperback cookbook, but it was my cooking 'bible'.
Later, when Mastering the Art of French Cooking came on the scene (2 volumes), I bought those.
Julia felt like my friend, all those many years.
She made learning to cook seem like it was something we could do, and I did.

My mother loved to eat and cook and she made wonderful things: prime rib, crisp green salads, gravy just like velvet, homemade bread, fruitcake for the holidays, egg nog, and th best fried chicken ever!
But: I was in Wisconsin, and my mother was in California!
In comes Julia to fill in that gap!
Of course, living next door to Mary Ballard who had 6 children and made incredible pies was a big help, too!
Mary taught me how to make her pie crust and I was good to go!

I remember walking the floor with a baby who was teething and the baby was in one hand and Julia's book in the other.

When this movie came out, I was ecstatic----it made me want to get that book out and make every single thing in it!

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, dear Julia-Happy Birthday to you.
You have a special place in my heart and yes, in my kitchen.

I dedicate my knives and my cutting board to you!
I think I'll go buy some butter, in your honor.
Rest well, my friend.

PEACE
As I often think of peace and wish for it in this world of ours, I chose a sketchbook to dedicate to peace. It was to be a sketchbook to exchange with my SoulCollage© group. Each month, we exchanged a book with each other, until they had all been worked in.

Front cover-Norman Rockwell print 

Back cover-Norman Rockwell print

Title page

My first two pages

The peace dove is connected to a spirit boat.

In the upper right corner, the world awaits the peace

that the dove and the spirit boat are bringing to  it.

Journaling, collaging and collecting materials about peace are helpful ways to bring comfort to ourselves.

Thanks for stopping by.

12 COLORED PENCILS

See that white container?

At one time, about 8 years ago, this was the extent of my art supplies! I purchased some colored pencils because I thought they were pretty. What were they for? I was unsure, so they sort of 'hung around', on the desk, waiting for me.

I think I wanted to 'do' some art, maybe a little something.

This was before the adult coloring book craze-that I would have gone for straight away. Coloring in the lines, right?

My SoulCollage© Group, looking at cards they've made

In the meantime, I became a trained SoulCollage© Facilitator, joined Meetup and let people know I was going to hold workshops at my home. Over time, this became the group that now meets every month at my home-8 years!

Now, they are interesting, creative and artistic women.

I listened to them talk about their own creative projects, and the museums they visited  and artists they admired, along with the movies they enjoyed.

A few more supplies!

Then, I began checking out online art classes...the kind that took me as I was and I could learn from there.

I felt comfortable doing that, because I could stop and start the class and keep up, or come back to it another time.

I made a few bookmarks, so that required playing with watercolors-learning some nice paints to work with and what kinds of paper I like painting on, and of course, I bought some paint brushes as well!

A pouch for papers. I made this in an online class with Carla Sonheim- she's wonderful at teaching how to draw fun animals. She keeps it all simple and is easy-to-follow.

www.carlasonheim.com

Back to SoulCollage©

As I made collage cards every month, I was growing inside, finding my magical, creative self. We all were.

When you let them, the images tell you a story-about you.

Collage is a wonderful playground.

www.soulcollage.com

My art life was expanding, just like me.....

In 2014, I  joined a group called Awesome Flying Sketchbooks, we drew in each other's little books and mailed them  off to the next person. This book was being sent to lady named Gill in the UK.....that was fun. Receiving them was fantastic!

And then...I took a year-long, online class called Lifebook 2014 with Tamara LaPorte (also from the U.K.) and there were about 20 teachers during the year.

I did some work during that class that showed me possibilities in myself I never even knew I had. The next three pieces of work astounded me-I LOVE them!

The Stag

His name is Christophe and I plan to paint a wife for him.

Look at his eyes-they are warm, and loving.

My teacher: Tamara LaPorte

I had never drawn an eye in my life! 

I just followed my teacher's instructions, step-by-step.

I love the colors, and the eye is reflecting the light.

Teacher: Tamara La Porte

Girl With Halo

I kind of froze when I found this class involved drawing a face with charcoal. I said things like, "I can't draw faces-I can't make eyes". Again, I took the steps I was taught, one by one, and applied them. The amazing part? It was all done in 30 minutes, even the journaling I did in her hair!

This one really threw me for a loop-stopped me cold, at a loss for words. Why? Because I actually did it.

Because someone showed me HOW, that's why.

I contacted my teacher and tried to explain the feeling that came from this portrait. She wrote back, "I know-I've been there, too. It's what we do".

Teacher: Kate Thompson

And then, somehow, I found another teacher who has captured my heart: Paivi Eerola, in Finland

I'v taken three online courses with Paivi, and am about to take the fourth class. She has opened my mind in a more abstract, fun way....lots of colored pencils, too!

Colored pencil: Peacock

Teacher: Paivi Eerola

www.peonyandparakeet.com

Lots more supplies!!!

Oh: there are more than 12 pencils (see them on the right?)

Art On The Go!

(I'll do a post on traveling + art soon)

Colored pencils-medieval dress

For a friend's sketchbook

Art and my interest in creating works has grown over time. I think it always will. I hope that you'll try it soon, too.

And...rather than saying "I can't", you can say "When"?

Maybe we'll see each other in the art supply section of the store.

That's where you can buy your own 12 colored pencils!

__thanks for stopping by

I'm Just Sayin'!

Someone once said two of the most beautiful words in the English language are "summer afternoon".

Do you have some lazy days coming up on your horizon?

How about scheduling some time for yourself to relax, renew and restore yourself?

What type of retreat sounds good to you:

Half hour/half day/all day/week/month?

Even minutes count!

TIME. FOR. YOU.

Do things you want to do.

OR. DO. NOTHING.

Make a collage?

Go to a festival? This picture was taken at Dia de Portugal, a Portuguese festival at Kelly Park, San Jose, CA.

Do some doodling

Visit a museum

The Huntington, Pasadena, CA.

Paint your toes

Eat a banana split with a cousin

Fenton's Creamery, Oakland, CA.

Be with Mother Nature

Kathleen Callaghan-Mendenhall

Georgetown, CA.

Go to see the display of books your friend wrote

about Moo-Moo Sue and Howdy! My Name Is Rowdy!

Paint Your Shoes

Or, you could watch the movie, Paint Your Wagon!

Visit a lighthouse and breathe in the sea air

Pacific Grove, CA.

You can retreat all you want, whenever you say...

Just be "OPEN" to taking time just for you.

You're worth it, you know!

Thanks for stopping by...